


Always and Forever

by maderi



Category: overwatch
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Gentle Kissing, Holding Hands, Idiots in Love, Insecurity, Love Confessions, M/M, Memories, Realization, Sleepy Cuddles, Spooning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21954496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maderi/pseuds/maderi
Summary: When Gabriel gets Jack as his secret Santa giftee in the new Overwatch's team building event, emotions fly higher than ever before. Can the two former lovers work out their differences before someone else takes it upon themselves to push them in the right direction?
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Comments: 4
Kudos: 64
Collections: Reaper76 Free For All Secret Santa 2019





	Always and Forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Slynx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slynx/gifts).



> I got the wonderfully amazing Slynx for this year's Reaper76 Secret Santa event! I really hope that you'll have a wonderful day today and that you'll enjoy this little thing I made for you.
> 
> Merry Christmas!

He was not doing this. This was not something he was going to do. Ever. Crossing his arms over his chest, Gabriel huffed to himself, refusing to join the others in their cheerful laughter and secretive smirks as the slowly got their secret Santa giftee. 

It was to build team spirits, to forge new bonds and strengthened old ones, Winston had said as he walked around the room, handing out small notes with names on them. It was ridiculous that grown people had to endure this - this humiliating game. 

Christmas had been Jack's thing, not his. He was the king of fall, not king of clowns dressed in ugly costumes. No, that had all been Jack, and his cheery ass. As soon as Gabriel’s traditions were over, Jack would whip out the Christmas lights and play classic Christmas music. 

That all seemed like a lifetime ago now though. Zürich had fallen, Talon had conquered and Jack and Gabriel, well, they had died in the blazing fires, trapped beneath stone and steel. Scowling over at the rest of the agents, Gabriel snuck out of the room undetected. Or so he had thought.

“Y’know,” That twangy sound of the ingrate’s voice rasped through him, “ya ain’t as sneaky as ya think ya’re, Reyes,” 

“Step aside, mutt,” Gabriel growls, squaring up to fight his former protege. 

“You git Jack, didn’t you?” Jesse asks in perfect English, grinning at Gabriel’s suddenly perplexed face. “Yeah, thought so. That thunderous, insecure face of yours is so easy to read.” 

And that has Gabriel growling, narrowing his brown dangerously as he pushes past Jesse with a huff. He was a lot of things, had been a lot of things in his life, but he had never once been ‘easy to read’. He took great pride in that. 

He could hear the ingrate’s chuckles as he stomped down corridors until he ended up in the old Blackwatch wing. He’d made his room down here once he was forced to join Overwatch once more.

“I don’t know how or when you did it, but this is all your fault,” Gabriel growls as a loud zap pops up behind him. 

“I didn’t do anything, Chiquito,” Sombra smiles innocently.

“C-chiquito?” Gabriel growls, even though the endearment stumbles. 

Sombra just waves a wildly manicured hand at him and shushes him. She looks suspiciously much like the cat that swallowed the canary as she follows Gabriel into his room

“So what are you getting him?” She chirps immediately when the door swishes closed. 

“I, am not getting him anything,” Gabriel huffs as he sits down at his desk and opens his laptop. 

“He’s not a very cheerful man anymore, not like he used to be anyway. Gabi, do you think he would like something cheerful, something that would have him smiling?” She continues as if she hadn’t heard Gabriel. 

“He does still know how to smile, right?” Sombra asks as an afterthought, more so to herself. 

That was actually a good question. During the past four months, Gabriel hadn’t seen Jack smile once. During the past ten years, he couldn’t remember seeing him smile once. Even stressed out and worn thin before the fall, Jack had somehow found it in him to smile softly, at least in Gabriel’s presence. 

“I don’t know,” Gabriel finds himself humming thoughtfully. 

“Do you?” Sombra adds, her voice void of the normal cheerful sing-song sound. 

Gabriel opened his mouth to huff out an indignified ‘yes’, but had to stop short when he couldn’t remember the last time he made his lips lift at any emotion. Usually, they would drop with disappointment or thin into a firm line with anger. But through the last decade, Gabriel hadn’t really felt happiness. 

“Don’t worry, Gabi, we’ll find a way.” Sombra smiles reassuringly at him, “Now, what does he like?”

And for the second time that day, Gabriel didn’t know what to say. Frowning, he tried to remember anything Jack had taken pleasure in the last four months, but couldn’t remember seeing Jack do anything other than training in his spare time. What idiot trained after the mandatory training?

When they had been someone else when Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes still lived, Jack had hated training, had tried to eel his way out of it every day unless Gabe was taking part. The two of them made everything a competition, so naturally, what Gabriel did, Jack could do better. 

In their rare time off, Jack just liked to curl up close to Gabriel and read a book. Sometimes, he’d just lay on his chest, listening to Gabriel’s heart beat with closed eyes, obviously comforted by the sound. Gabriel had liked these moments too. 

Gabriel had liked them very much.

Sighing deeply, Gabriel puts his head in his hands. This secret Santa thing complicated their already complicated relationship even more. He didn’t know how he’d manage to genuinely give Jack something he’d like. Sure, he could buy anything off of the net, but it wouldn’t be something Jack enjoyed. He’d always been one to love and appreciate quirky, homemade gifts and not the store-bought kind. 

He’d been so distuned with his emotions the past decade that he really did struggle with coming up with anything that would please Jack. Sure, he could always knot him a sweater. He had noticed how Jack always wore his leather jacket, even inside. His skin more often than not was peppered with goosebumps, his skin, whenever Gabriel accidentally came into contact with it, always chilled. 

Huffing to himself, Gabriel decided what to give Jack. He would knit the ugliest woolen sweater in the history of ugly sweaters. 

If he only remembered how to knit... 

-

A week, and four thwarted attempts at knitting a sweater, later, Gabriel was just about ready to give up. His mood had turned significantly worse as each attempt died a horrible death. It was starting to affect the people forced to be around him. Even Sombra walked on eggshells around him now. 

Jack, on the other hand, seemed just as angry as Gabriel was. He had opted to grunt and growl as a form of replies, not that he was especially chatty towards other people, to begin with, but this was somehow worse than ever. 

They had been unlucky enough to be partnered up yesterday during training, something they had not been ready for. Jack’s indifference had fueled Gabriel’s anger to the point where he got rough, which in turn only spurred Jack’s anger. Before either one of them knew it, they were fighting against each other instead of working together on the obstacles. Being super-soldiers, it had not been a pretty sight. 

It brought them to this moment, in Winston’s office as they both got an ultimatum after a real talking to as if they were both children. They were given the chance to prove that they could work together once and for all by living together and sticking together 24/7 for the rest of the year without drawing blood. 

Both Jack and Gabriel had been ready to tell Winston where he could stick it when Ana’s voice from behind them had said that they would both accept. Turning around in surprise and disbelief, both of them were dared to argue her decision by a single raised eyebrow. Wisely, neither one had dared open their mouths. 

Surprisingly enough, they were moved into their old quarters in the Watchpoint, in the wing where their old teams still lived now that they were back. It was almost as if nothing had happened, as if all the pain and hurt between them was nothing but a bad dream, but looking up into Jack’s stony face told Gabriel everything that he needed to know. 

This was their reality now. 

They would survive three weeks though. How hard could it be? Together, they had conquered the world, beaten the Omnic Cris, formed Overwatch and Blackwatch and protected the world from every force known to earth. And after... well, they were still here, weren’t they?

“Touch me, and I will break your bones,” Jack growls, his voice like gravel in a mixmaster. 

“Winston said -”

“Winston said no blood,” Jack reminds him and Gabriel gets the message clear as day. 

He knew Jack wouldn’t make it easy for him, the same way he knew he would be unable to make it easy for Jack. They had always been petty like that, stewing with anger before they exploded, afterward, promising each other to communicate better. Gabriel had no illusion that the next three weeks would be any different. 

Well, minus the makeup sex, soft kisses and being held as if he was the most precious being in the universe. 

“Gabriel?” Jack pushes with a worried waver as if he’d called his name more than once. 

“Hmm?”

But Jack just frowns at him before walking into their old bedroom with his duffle bag, rummaging around, putting away his few belongings before locking he door to the bathroom. Shortly after, the sound of water fills through the cracked bedroom door.

Gabriel sighs as he sits down on their old couch. How was it that everything was exactly as they had left it ten years ago, while almost everything else in the base was broken and destroyed? Sure, they had gone to extreme lengths to secure this and his Blackwatch wing when they built the place, their private quarters secured even more.

But as opposed to his Blackwatch quarters, this one had not been broken into. The wing, both of them, wore marks of vandalism, his quarters in Blackwatch having been forced open. But their quarters here still remained untouched. It was almost scary looking, an apartment very much frozen in time. 

“I’m going to bed, don’t wake me,” Jack grumbled from their old bedroom, the scent of Jack’s old body wash slowly wafting out into the living room. 

“It’s 8:30 pm, Morrison,” Gabriel deadpans, expecting a comeback, something, anything. 

Instead, Jack just grunts and closes the door, leaving Gabriel to stew in his own thoughts. Setting up the couch for the night, Gabriel wonders who had cleaned their apartment before this they were banned to it. He highly doubted the monkey could clean. 

Unpacking his knitting gear, Gabriel sat down heavily on the couch and looked at the green monstrosity in his hands. If he had known that taking up knitting again would have proved as difficult as this, he would have stuck to buying Jack something impersonal instead. 

But then... For some reason, that thought didn’t sit well with him. Their differences were born from different ways of tackling a problem, namely, Gabriel dealing with it and Jack not getting the full picture. 

He’d give Jack the right to feel slighted for this one though. He maybe should have told his husb- Jack about his plans for taking down the Talon operatives working inside of Overwatch. But in his exhausted state of stress, Gabriel had somehow lost sight on who to trust with that secret. 

Then, one day, that explosion had taken them all by surprise. For years, Gabriel had blamed Jack for what happened until he finally admitted to himself that Jack would have never allowed this to happen, had he known about it. 

His anger was misplaced, he knew that much. But when had he ever been one to admit that he was wrong? An annoying voice in the back of his mind insistently screamed ‘To Jack, to your husband.’ at him. Growling at himself, Gabriel threw the knitting pins and yarn back into his bag, stuffing it angrily in before, in a fit of childish rage, lay down on his bed for the foreseeable future, with crossed arms. 

In the middle of the night though, the answer to their mysteriously clean apartment was revealed. Gabriel had genuinely forgotten about the cleaning robot Jack had gotten him for their thirtieth anniversary, grinning and feeling smug that he’d never again have to hear Gabriel complain about his cleaning skills, or rather, lack there off.

All these memories were giving him whiplash. His chest hurt from more reasons than just the never settling nanites beneath his skin, his body feeling heavy, tired all of a sudden, when previously, he’d only felt a cribbling, burning thirst for revenge. 

This had, without a doubt, been Whinston’s goal all along. 

Getting up from the couch, Gabriel left their apartment behind in favor of walking the halls. It was something he used to do before, in a life he had thought lost to him, a life way beyond any reach he would ever have again. Now though, he found himself walking the same halls once more. 

“Kinda puts it in perspective, doesn’t it?” Jesse’s voice drawls as he stops to look out the large floor to ceiling windows in the common room. 

“Mmh...” Gabriel hums, not even mustering the energy to chew the younger man out like he usually does. 

He was right after all. Being back, being here with everyone, with Jack, just made it all the clearer what the sacrifice had cost. And the price, the price was too steep. Gabriel was beginning to realize that. 

“You know he still cares, right?” Jesse’s voice is closer now, behind him and a little to the side, flanking Gabriel like he used to do while in Blackwatch. 

Gabriel doesn’t reply though. He know he still provoked some kind of emotion inside Jack, but for the last decade, he’d thought that had just been disappointment and resentment for what went down in Zürich. 

“He’s been chasing your shadow from the beginning, hellbent on revenge for Talon taking you away from him,” Jesse continues, fully aware of what he’s doing. 

Turning around to face him, Gabriel is surprised to see a tiny, bundled, sleeping form on the couch behind Jesse. He’d know that alarming shade of purple anywhere. Nodding towards Sombra’s sleeping form, Gabriel asks without words what was going on there. As far as he knew, Sombra had only worked with Jack. 

“Yeah, little friendo over there is growing on me. Been helping me out all these years, given occasional advice, heads up and so on. She helped me get Echo back from her pod.” He finishes, having turned back around to smile softly at her. 

Gabriel couldn’t really admit to being surprised. Sombra worked in mysterious ways with a motive that was hers and hers alone. The only thing Gabriel was reasonably sure off, was that they were both working towards the same goal. 

Hours passed as he and Jesse talked, exchanging stories and old memories in place of low chuckles and fond smiles. It was - it was nice. A nice change from all the anger and resentment. It left him with a fussy warm feeling and a mood lighter than it had been for many years. 

“Right, sun’s rising and I gotta find my way back to the sleeping beauty in my bed,” Jesse winks as he stands. 

“Sleeping beauty, eh?” Gabriel grins. 

Hanzo was not exactly someone Gabriel would call a sleeping beauty. More like a pompous dragon in serious need of beauty sleep. The thought made him smile. He was glad the kid had found someone to share his life with, even if it had to be the other Shimada sibling, Jesse looked well taken care off. 

“Hey boss, you should do that more often,” Jesse grins as he moves towards the hall. 

“Do what?” Gabriel asks confused. 

“Smile,” And with that, Jesse’s gone, his spurs jingling as he walks down the hall and out of earshot. 

‘Smile my ass,’ Gabriel huffs to himself, looking over at Sombra still sleeping on the far end of the big coach. 

Standing to stretch, Gabriel winces as his back pops painfully, humming contently at the warm feeling that spreads afterward. Walking over to Sombra, Gabriel scoots her up into his arms and starts walking towards her quarters. She needed a bed and privacy after all. 

By the time Gabriel finally walks back into his and jack’s old apartment, the sun is resting low over the sea behind their large windows. The smell of food greets him and his stomach growls loudly. 

“Oh, you’re back,” Jack says softly, his head popping out from the kitchen. 

It brings back memories Gabriel does not want to remember right then. So instead, he walks over to the couch to gather up his sheets and pillows, putting it away until later that day. 

“You didn’t have to sleep on the couch you know. Our - the bed is big enough for the both of us,” Jack says from behind him, having emerged from the kitchen. 

“Didn’t wanna wake you,” Gabriel hums, turning around to see Jack in nothing but sweats and an apron. 

The sight really does bring him back this time. Brings him back to a time where Jack would stand at the stove, sleep tousled hair standing out in every which direction, an apron, this apron, around his trim waist as Gabriel would sneak up to him to lay his head on his husband’s shoulder and wound his arms tightly around his waist. 

“You know you wouldn’t have,” Jack says and with that, a sad look crosses his face. 

Gabriel wants to ask about it, wants to chase it away, to replace it with the soft insecurity that was there just a moment ago. But instead, he watches silently as Jack turns around and walks back to the kitchen, exposing his pale naked back to him. 

And that’s when he sees it. In the small of his back, an angry pink patch of scars blooms as if exploding fireworks. Only, Gabriel knows that it’s not. He put that mark there two and a half years ago. 

Before he knows what he’s doing, he’s walked over to Jack and reached out for the soft, puckered skin. Jack’s reaction is immediate. His skin erupts in goosebumps as he twists around, confusion and something looking incredibly much like vulnerability glittering in his oh so blue eyes. 

Gabriel doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know what he’s doing or why he’s doing it. All he knows is that he put that mark on Jack and although it had been in blind anger, he had put it in a place where he knew Jack would heal. The fact that he hadn’t, surprised him into total silence. 

“I made breakfast,” Jack says after a long silence between the two. He’s turned back to the stove again, exposing his back to Gabriel, trusting him with it once more, although his shoulders are wound tight, protecting his neck as much as possible. 

“I don’t know if you still eat or not, never actually noticed...” Jack rambles on, obviously nervous. 

“I eat,” Gabriel hums helpfully. 

He steps back from Jack, regretting it as he sees Jack’s shoulders relax a little. Be it from him stepping back or the fact that he still eats, Gabriel doesn’t know. Instead, he occupies himself with setting the table. The fridge is full of food they used to eat back when they were alive, back when everything was manageable between them and they loved each other. 

‘You still do,’ something inside him spits in, and it sets Gabriel’s nerves on fire. 

Did he still love Jack? He’d never stopped to think about it before, never managed to get further than betrayal and resentment, something, if he was being completely honest with himself, he wasn’t quite sure held up in lieu of the new facts on the table. 

But beneath it all, he knew as clearly as he knew himself that it was true. He had never stopped loving Jack, not for a single moment in all those years. Looking back over at Jack, Gabriel was surprised to see the other man looking at him too, an expression Gabriel couldn’t place on his scarred face. 

This routine went on for the next two weeks, Jack going to bed early, Gabriel wandering the halls of Watchpoint Gibraltar and then when he got back, Jack would be standing at the stove, making breakfast. 

Gabriel would be the first one to admit to his culinary skills being nothing short of a disaster. The same way Jack wouldn’t magically get awarded house-husband of the year, Gabriel would never be awarded the ‘decent cook’ award. It was just how it was. But they had made it work back then and surprisingly enough, old habits died hard. 

He’s is pulled out of peaceful sleep by Jack’s desperate voice calling his name one night. The sound is so distressed that it had him up and moving towards the bedroom before he’s even fully awake. On the bed, on their old bed, Jack is crying in his sleep. His face is tense, brows drawn tight as he clutches the pillow on what used to be Gabriel’s side of the bed. 

His body moves on pure instinct when it walks on over to the bed and curls Jack up in his arms. Jack immediately seeks out the warmth of his body, pressing his face into his chest as he whimpers. Gabriel holds on tightly, hand supporting Jack’s head to his chest, fingers softly caressing the soft silvery-white stands on Jack’s head. 

Jack calms down surprisingly fast, breaths coming in deeper and slower each time until finally, his face smooths out and he wiggles closer to Gabriel’s body. It’s almost painful how familiar this scene is, Jack, taking comfort in his support, burrowing into the crook of Gabriel’s neck as he sleeps peacefully through the night. 

Gabriel lies awake for long hours after, just listening to Jack breathe slowly, soft snores escaping him every now and then. Something tight hurts inside his chest and within the first hour, Gabriel gives in to his own weak will and burrows his nose in Jack’s soft hair. 

The smell of Jack, of his technically still husband, lulls him to sleep eventually and when they wake, it is to the embrace of each other’s bodies. Jack stiffens as he realized what is happening, but then, instead of jumping off of the bed and start a fight, he relaxes and rubs his head over Gabriel’s chest, getting comfortable once more. 

And hour, two goes by before Gabriel dares to stir. He needs to change position but knows that once he does, Jack will move away from him. He’s surprised one more when Jack turns in his arms and pulls Gabriel with him into a spooning position. They don’t say anything, but with the way Jack keeps golding onto his wrist, Gabriel is helpless to comply. 

Sighing deeply, Gabriel curls firmly around Jack, arm around his waist pressing him firmly back into Gabriel’s chest as he rests his head halfway onto Jack’s neck, letting his breath ghost over the underside of Jack’s jaw. 

Jack practically melts halfway underneath him when Gabriel puts his leg over Jack’s and rolls them a little bit more onto their bellies. If it was possible, Jack would be purring beneath the weight of Gabriel’s body. As it was, the pleased sigh that escaped him and the way he gently held onto Gabriel’s wrist, was close enough. 

When they eventually got up, neither one mentioned what had happened. Jack started breakfast and Gabriel set the table. They ate breakfast in a new comfortable silence, one that almost reminded Gabriel of old. 

His knitting had suddenly smoothed out too, the progress he was making ten times faster than the previous three weeks. With only a few days left until Christmas, Gabriel was starting to feel the urgency to get the sweater finished. 

Jack made Gabriel’s favorite for dinner that night and when they finished eating, Jack took Gabriel’s hand and lightly pulled him after him, first to the bathroom where they brushed their teeth, and then into bed where Jack curled in on himself as he draped Gabriel over him. They didn’t say anything as they settled in and got comfortable, afraid to break the spell that bound them to this peaceful new limbo. Again, they slept through the night in each other’s arms, waking up still holding onto each other. 

For the rest of the week, this little dance of theirs continued, Gabriel, after the second day, going willingly before Jack could even initiate the movement. The day after would be Christmas day and the big reveal. Gabriel hadn’t felt giddy and nervous like this in a long, long time. The sweater was finished earlier that day, now laying neatly wrapped up underneath the big Christmas tree in the common room, just waiting for Jack to open it. 

But this time when they woke up, Jack had another look on his face. Slowly, he had blinked his baby blue’s awake on Gabriel’s chest, thigh firmly nestles between Gabriel’s where he lay flat on his back with Jack half draped over him. Gabriel was looking down on him, watching his - watching Jack come back to life after sleeping like a rock. 

Instead of getting out of bed though, this time, Jack smiled softly and stretched his neck to give Gabriel a soft kiss good morning before laying back down on Gabriel’s chest again. Confusion crashed through Gabriel’s entire body as the kiss registered and then Jack was gone from sight, just the top of his hair, antennae and all, visible from Gabriel’s position. 

Another hour went by before Jack started moving again, stealing yet another shy kiss before untangling himself from Gabriel without a word. But again, when they’re ready to go, Jack takes his hand before they step outside. 

It’s all so surreal it leaves Gabriel speechless, helpless to follow after Jack like a puppy on a leash. No one even lifts a brow at their intertwined fingers as they walk into the common room and sit down in their old loveseat that overlooks the rest of the sofas and chairs. 

Jack is still holding his hand as the gifting starts, each one explaining why they chose this or that and what the person had come to mean to them. It would have been a sweet moment if it hadn’t been for Gabriel’s mind being occupied with the fact that Gabriel was holding his hand in the company of their teammates. 

Eventually, Jack’s name was called and he had to let go of Gabriel’s hand to receive and open his gift. Nervously, Gabriel watched as Jack worked open the wrapping, breathing a sigh of relief when Jack’s eyes widen and a pleased smile crosses his lips. 

Immediately, he looks up at Gabriel with teary eyes and a wobbly smile. Gabriel doesn’t know how Jack knows that the gift is from him, but something in him says that he should have known. Jack knows him better than even he knows himself. 

“Thank you,” Jack croaks out, gravely voice making it sound harsh, but Gabriel hears the emotions in the words. 

“You were cold,” Gabriel gives as an explanation, rubbing his neck as he watches Jack put the warm woolen sweater on. It looks ridiculously sweet on Jack, the pattern Gabriel suddenly had decided to go with, only complimenting Jack’s natural dad-look. 

“It’s perfect, Gabe,” Jack smiles softly, leaning forward to place yet another soft kiss on his lips that day. 

The room goes deadly quiet and a full minute goes by before Jack realizes what he’s done and goes bright red. GabrielReyes.exe that had stopped working suddenly spurs into protective mode as he turns to scowl at anyone still gaping at the scene that just unfolded before them. He’s secretly pleasantly pleased when it works and their teammates’ cough and moves on. 

At last, Gabriel’s gift is the only one left under the tree. It’s a small box looking thing, one Jesse and Sombra jokes about being a wedding ring, snickering smugly as they’re hunched down together. Jack’s looking very nervous where he’s sitting, refusing to look Gabe in his eyes. By his calculations, Jack was the only one left to give a gift. 

The realization has Gabriel seeking out Sombra’s eyes as he scowls at her meddling. Eventually, Gabriel gets on with unwrapping his gift, gently squeezing Jack’s knee before opening the small box and then proceeds to drop it in his lap as his head shoots up to meet Jack’s rapidly falling eyes. 

“Yeah, that was a long shot, I knew that. Fuck, I uh - you don’t have to...I’ll just get you something else,” Jack rambles and reaches out to grab the fallen box. 

Gabriel snaps it up before Jack can reach it though. The hell he’s giving this back again. Plucking the banged-up silver ring out of the box, Gabriel holds it up to the light and looks for the engraved word he knows rests inside it. And sure enough, the word ‘Boy Scout’ in Gabriel’s own calligraphy handwriting prides the perfectly smooth inside. 

“I just thought that - I had hoped that - It’s stupid, I know.” Jack sighs and rubs his neck, embarrassment riding darkly over his cheeks. 

“Hell, Jackie,” Gabriel manages to croak out, emotions making it difficult. “You sure know how to do it, doncha?” Jack doesn’t meet his eyes, so Gabriel grabs for the chain inside his hoodie and slips it over his head and place it into Jack’s hand. The reaction is instantaneous. 

Surprised blue eyes shoot up to meet his before looking down into his hands and the gold band resting inside it on a silver chain. On the inside, a chicken scribbled ‘Edgelord’. Jack gently caressed the bulked ring before making a fist over it and looked up into Gabriel’s eyes. 

“You kept it...” He says softly. 

“I almost died retrieving it once,” Gabriel smiles softly, taking Jack’s hand in his. “I said forever Jack, and no matter what, I meant it.”

A tear falls down Jack’s cheek before he leans forward to rest his forehead against Gabriel’s shoulder. Smiling softly, Gabriel wounds his arms around him and gathers him closer, rubbing his hand up and down Jack’s spine as he breathes, desperately trying to calm himself. 

“I love you so much,” Gabriel takes a chance and whispers into Jack’s ear. 

A heartwrenching sob escapes Jack’s throat as he moves closer, holding onto Gabriel as if his very life depended on it. The room slowly but surely empties, their teammates letting them have this moment in privacy. Gently lifting Jack’s face, Gabriel wiped the tears away from his cheeks, smiling gently at the red-rimmed blue eyes staring back at him with wonder. 

“I have always loved you, Jackie,” Gabriel whispers before leaning in the last few inches to meet Jack’s lips. 

Their kiss is slow but sloppy, too many emotions passing through as their lips clash together for real. It really is like coming home after a long mission. Gabriel can feel tears of his own sliding down his face as Jack kisses with as much ferocity that Gabriel remembered. 

“I love you too, Gabe, always have, always will,” Jack whispers when they break apart and that, that was everything Gabriel ever needed to hear from him. 

They still had a long way to go before they would be alright again, but for now, they had each other and start the healing process together as the team they were always meant to be. 

~ The End.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and happy holidays!


End file.
